Numbers 31:1-24 - War Against The Midianites

¹ And Jehovah spake unto Moses, saying, ² Avenge the children of Israel of the Midianites: afterward shalt thou be gathered unto thy people.

³ And Moses spake unto the people, saying, Arm ye men from among you for the war, that they may go against Midian, to execute Jehovah's vengeance on Midian. ⁴ Of every tribe a thousand, throughout all the tribes of Israel, shall ye send to the war. ⁵ So there were delivered, out of the thousands of Israel, a thousand of every tribe, twelve thousand armed for war. ⁶ And Moses sent them, a thousand of every tribe, to the war, them and Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest, to the war, with the vessels of the sanctuary and the trumpets for the alarm in his hand.

⁷ And they warred against Midian, as Jehovah commanded Moses; and they slew every male. ⁸ And they slew the kings of Midian with the rest of their slain: Evi, and Rekem, and Zur, and Hur, and Reba, the five kings of Midian: Balaam also the son of Beor they slew with the sword. ⁹ And the children of Israel took captive the women of Midian and their little ones; and all their cattle, and all their flocks, and all their goods, they took for a prey. ¹⁰ And all their cities in the places wherein they dwelt, and all their encampments, they burnt with fire. ¹¹ And they took all the spoil, and all the prey, both of man and of beast. ¹² And they brought the captives, and the prey, and the spoil, unto Moses, and unto Eleazar the priest, and unto the congregation of the children of Israel, unto the camp at the plains of Moab, which are by the Jordan at Jericho.

¹³ And Moses, and Eleazar the priest, and all the princes of the congregation, went forth to meet them without the camp. ¹⁴ And Moses was wroth with the officers of the host, the captains of thousands and the captains of hundreds, who came from the service of the war. ¹⁵ And Moses said unto them, Have ye saved all the women alive? ¹⁶ Behold, these caused the children of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to commit trespass against Jehovah in the matter of Peor, and so the plague was among the congregation of Jehovah. ¹⁷ Now therefore kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman that hath known man by lying with him. ¹⁸ But all the women-children, that have not known man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves.

¹⁹ And encamp ye without the camp seven days: whosoever hath killed any person, and whosoever hath touched any slain, purify yourselves on the third day and on the seventh day, ye and your captives. ²⁰ And as to every garment, and all that is made of skin, and all work of goats hair , and all things made of wood, ye shall purify yourselves.

²¹ And Eleazar the priest said unto the men of war that went to the battle, This is the statute of the law which Jehovah hath commanded Moses: ²² howbeit the gold, and the silver, the brass, the iron, the tin, and the lead, ²³ everything that may abide the fire, ye shall make to go through the fire, and it shall be clean; nevertheless it shall be purified with the water for impurity: and all that abideth not the fire ye shall make to go through the water. ²⁴ And ye shall wash your clothes on the seventh day, and ye shall be clean; and afterward ye shall come into the camp.